written By Tammy Ong (Physiotherapist)
Are you giving your body what it needs after a HIIT workout?
High-intensity interval training, more commonly known as ‘HIIT’, can be quite an acquired taste. Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with HIIT workouts! Similar to the relationship most of you must have with us 😂. It’s painful in the moment, and maybe even after, but wait a day or two, and you feel great and energised!
What is HIIT and why is it good for you?
Simply put, HIIT incorporates alternating periods of high intensity aerobic exercises with short rest intervals. These exercises can either be body-weighted or include the use of weights and other equipment such as rowers, assault bike and ski ergs (all the favourites, clearly), just to name a few.
HIIT is a favourite for those who want to burn more calories in a short amount of time. HIIT workouts can last anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes. Research has also found HIIT burned approximately 30% more calories than other types of training.
It also helps to maintain a higher metabolic rate for a longer period of time after exercising. This means that you continue to burn calories even after you’ve stopped training. Studies have also found it encourages your body to use and burn fat to produce energy, rather than carbs. Therefore, also promotes fat loss in the process.
Additionally, HIIT has the ability to encourage and increase the efficiency at which your muscles use oxygen when exercising. It has cardiovascular benefits in the way it helps to decrease heart rate and blood pressure, especially hypertension for populations that are overweight or obese.
But how can I minimise that feeling of “oh my… my body does not like me, it just does not want to work right now”?
Alongside the feeling of losing half your respiratory system to a decent HIIT workout, you might feel that over the next few days, it’s sore to move and use muscles that were worked the most during that workout (aka Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – DOMS), or you might feel a little more tired after a HIIT workout than other types of training.
Metabolic changes can in occur in the body during and after a high intensity workout. Some of these may include:
Increased blood lactate levels
Acidosis – blood acidity increases thus reducing the oxygen and nutrient stores that
are required during aerobic exercise
Gluconeogenesis – where protein gets used for energy, thus reducing the proteinstores we have left over to help muscle repair and growth
Increase production of human growth hormone – helps with muscle growth and recovery
Increased glycogen storage in muscles – glycogen used for energy but also helps to store water, good for aerobic exercise
It is important to remember that every person is different so recovery time might not always be the same for everyone, and that is okay! On average, it can take anywhere between 24 hours to 96 hours to recover fully after a metabolically demanding HIIT workout.
BUT… do not fear, I have my
3 Top Tips For Your Post HIIT Workout Recovery
1. WARM UP and MOBILISE!!
Warm-ups are crucial to ensuring that muscles are active and ready to go for what a HIIT workout is about to put them through. Warm-ups help to reduce the risk of injury, and can help to reduce the amount of muscle soreness you get afterwards.
Simply completing a few repetitions of whole-body movements, mobility and dynamic (not static) stretches over a 5 – 10-minute time frame can make a world of difference!
Here’s a simple warm-up sequence I love doing when I prep myself for a HIIT workout:
High knees
Speed squats
Push ups with a twist
Mountain climbers
Supine knee rotations
Glute bridge
Butt kicks
Sumo squats
Burpee (or half burpees)
Plyo lunges
Mobility targeting all joints
2. COOL IT
Alright, time to fess up.
Who else doesn’t consistently cool down after a workout? I know we’ve all done it at some point. I’ll throw myself under the bus here and say I have occasionally walked out of the gym straight after finishing my program, and not staying back to do a decent cool down for my body.
It’s simply keeping your body moving, but just at a lower intensity.
Spending that extra time has so many benefits, some of which include:
Helps to prevent blood from pooling in veins, and contributes to good blood circulation
Helps to gradually return your heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature to your normal resting levels
Reduction in lactic acid levels in the muscles that were most used, thus reducing muscle tightness and cramping. This doesn’t necessarily mean it reduces the effects of DOMs but does help to maintain good muscle length and flexibility
Improving muscle length and flexibility
A cool down could be as simple as a 10-15-minute walk on the treadmill, followed by a combination of both dynamic and static stretches.
Here’s what stretches I usually do for my cool downs:
Jefferson curls
Cossack squat stretches
Deep squat holds into trunk rotations
Downward dog
Deep lunge hip flexor stretch
Thread the needle
Child’s pose
Cobra pose
Pigeon pose
Figure 4 stretch
Happy baby pose
3. SLEEP and HYDRATE
We lose water during exercise through our sweat, and simply through breathing. Our muscles and body need water to repair and rebuild themselves.
Maintaining hydration levels between workouts is also very important to help with the next workout you plan on completing. Keeping constantly hydrated helps to:
Maintain good and regular body temperature so it doesn’t rise too quickly
Allow for your body to have enough energy for a productive session
Have adequate electrolyte stores to help with optimal muscle function, and also reduce the chance of muscle cramps
Now, who doesn’t love sleep?!
We go through many stages of sleep, all of which play a big role in our body’s recovery. Deep sleep (stages 3 and 4 of non-REM sleep) is where our most important muscle recovery occurs.
When we sleep, blood pressure decreases, we breathe slower and deeper, blood that isn’t utilised to supply a resting brain gets sent to muscles when then help provide extra oxygen and nutrients to help muscle healing and growth, pituitary glands release growth hormone which helps with tissue growth and muscle repair, and lastly new cells are regenerated, and muscle tissue is restored.
It is recommended for us to sleep for at least 8 – 10 hours to allow adequate recovery. Any longer and our sleep cycle is changed for the following night. Any shorter, and our muscles and body systems won’t be able to optimally recover.
Hit us up with your favourite warm up and cool down exercises, and if you have any questions regarding recovery after a HIIT workout, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!